Anatomy · Organs
The organs of the body
A clear, referenced guide to the body's major organs — what each one is, where it sits, what it does, how it works and the conditions that affect it. Grouped by body system across 21 organs.
Cardiovascular system
Digestive system
Endocrine system
Integumentary system
Lymphatic system
Nervous system
Reproductive system
Respiratory system
Urinary system
No match — try another organ name.
See also
Bones of the skeleton · Muscles · Nerves · Blood vessels · Body systems · Conditions A–Z
How to use this section
Structure, function, and what goes wrong
Each guide covers what the organ is, where it sits, what it does, how to recognise when it is not working and the conditions that most often affect it.
Organs rarely work alone. The kidneys depend on blood pressure generated by the heart; the liver processes almost everything absorbed by the gut; the lungs and heart fail together often enough that breathlessness needs both considered. That interdependence is why a problem in one organ so often shows up as a symptom somewhere else, and why our body systems pages group them by the job they do together.
Anatomical descriptions rely on a small set of position words used precisely: proximal and distal, medial and lateral, anterior and posterior. They are always relative to the standard anatomical position, not to how a body happens to be lying. All are defined in our glossary, and appear as clickable definitions throughout these pages.
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